Eyes Wide Open
by AWolfAmongSwans
Summary: When Alex is hurt in battle, she sustains an injury she fears she might not recover from and finds comfort in someone she wouldn't have expected. [cross-posted from AO3]


Another alien had attacked Lord Technologies.

Luckily for the DEO and Supergirl, it was late at night and most of the employees had already gone home for the evening, save for a few security guards and Maxwell Lord himself, who was working late on a project. So this made it easier to get them out of harms way, so that they could get straight to their job of capturing the creature.

It wasn't long before they had the alien on the ropes, but it wasn't going down without a fight. Alex had cornered it and was about to signal for Supergirl to finish the job of subduing him, when its behavior suddenly became erratic. The creature lunged forward and shot a blast of energy she didn't know it was capable of producing, straight at her, which flung her back into a wall on the other side of the room. Her body slowly slid to the ground with a small thud.

"Alex!" Supergirl cried out, as she saw what happened.

Alex's eyes remained closed, but she raised a hand up to show she was still alive and that Kara could resume her fight against the alien intruder.

The brunette continued to lay there for a moment as a deep ache coursed through her body. She was definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow morning. Her gear had helped absorb a good portion of the impact, but her head was killing her.

Off in the distance she could hear weapons being fired from Hank and the rest of the team as they aided Supergirl. From the sounds of it, it seemed they had regained the upper hand once again.

Pushing herself up off the ground and into a sitting position, she opened her eyes and was surprised to find that it was pitch black. She couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face.

Trying to look around, she couldn't help but wonder if the alien had thrown her into something that had knocked out the power. Because of their abilities, Kara and Hank would have no problem seeing in the dark, but the rest of the agents must have been struggling.

She reached her hand out around her, trying to feel if there was any rumble and debris nearby that she had to watch out for.

"Alex."

The DEO agent quickly recognized Maxwell Lord's voice coming from nearby. She was a bit surprised he was able to see her in the dark, but didn't think too much of it in the moment.

"Max, where are you?"

She could hear him moving in front of her, but still couldn't see him. If she had been able to though, she would have seen the fearful look on his face.

"Supergirl!" Max called out and Alex was surprised by the frantic tone of his voice.

She then quickly felt a gust of air beside her, likely from her sister landing nearby, and called out to her.

"Did you get him?"

"We got him." Kara confirmed, slightly out of breath. "The rest of the team is loading him up to be taken back to the DEO. But what about you, are you okay?"

"I'll be a lot better once we get the power turned back on and I can see again."

Her sister suddenly went quiet.

"Alex, what are you talking about?" Kara asked cautiously.

A set of heavy footsteps approached, who Alex deduced was likely Hank, coming to check on them.

"It's pitch black in here." Alex continued.

She didn't see the worrisome exchange between the three of them, but the complete silence in response to her statement caused a queasy feeling in her stomach as she started to slowly piece things together. It wasn't that the power had been knocked out, it was that she couldn't **see**.

* * *

Kara and Hank, along with Maxwell Lord who had insisted on coming along too, rushed Alex back to the DEO.

She sat on a cold metal examining table, as various medical team members checked her over. Shining lights in her eyes, running all kinds of tests, basically the full gamut.

Kara and Hank hovered near Alex, but stayed far enough back as to not get in the way of the testing being done. Max stood in the corner of the room, watching intently as the medics looked her over.

"It should only be temporary." The doctor finally concluded after his examination.

"Should!?" Kara repeated loudly, her voice a mixture of fear, anger and confusion. Alex patted her sister's hand, which was still resting protectively on her shoulder.

"Kara, it's fine." Alex reassured calmly, though in reality her stomach was in knots and her mind reeled with uncertainty.

"What are we talking about here?" Hank asked sternly with his arms crossed over his chest, concern filling his voice.

"It could come back as early as a couple of hours, or it could possibly take a day or two. It's hard to say."

The room fell silent as they digested the information.

"And if it doesn't?" Max inquired, asking the one question that was on everyone's mind, but were too afraid to ask.

The doctor sighed. "Then we proceed from there."

* * *

It had been three days since then and Alex's vision still hadn't returned. She sat on the couch in her apartment as Kara fussed over her. As much as Alex loved her sister, she was a bit glad when she eventually had to leave for work. She needed a break from all of the coddling.

"I'll come by on my lunch break." Kara assured, giving her sister one more tight hug before leaving. "Call me if you need **anything**. Alright? Anything at all."

Alex nodded. "I know. Thank you."

Not even five minutes after she had left, there was a knock at her door and Alex shook her head and laughed. "I'm fine Kara, go to work!"

The voice that responded however was definitely not her sister's. "Alex? It's Max."

She blinked in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that. "Just a second!" She slowly felt her way off the couch and over to the front door. Patting the wooden slab, her hand finally landed on the cool metal handle. Giving it a turn, the door let out a small creak as she pulled it open some.

"What are you doing here?"

"You haven't show up unannounced at my office like you usually do, so I figured you might still be out of commission." He paused a moment. "And I was worried about you." He added quietly.

Though she couldn't see his face, she could her the sincerity in his voice.

"Can I come in?"

The brunette shrugs and pulls the door open further so he can enter, then closes it once he's inside.

"How did you find out where I live?"

"Henshaw told me, actually."

Alex spun around towards his voice in surprise. For Hank to tell Maxwell Lord where she lived wasn't something she had expected. She couldn't help but wonder how that conversation had gone down for him to agree to such a thing. But she did have to give Max credit for at least asking, as opposed to using other methods to find out, which was his usual style.

Despite her inability to see, she could still feel him watching her. That's all anyone had been doing lately, watching her. It was frustrating. She wasn't a child who needed looking after. She was still a grown woman, capable of taking care of herself.

"I don't need a babysitter."

"I know you don't."

And Alex could tell he genuinely meant that.

Still, she couldn't shake the annoyance of everyone constantly checking up on her. "As you can see, I'm just fine. So you can leave now. Don't let the door hit you on the way out." Alex spat harshly as she made her way towards the kitchen.

But as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt guilty for how she was treating him. He didn't deserve it, it wasn't his fault. She was just so frustrated by all of this. She knew he meant well, they all meant well, but she was just so tired of all of it.

Reaching up for a glass in the cabinet, she suddenly felt it slip through her fingers. The next thing she knew, the sound of glass shattering filled her ears. That was immediately followed by a sharp pain in her hand and the sensation of a warm sticky liquid dripping down her palm.

"Damn it." She mutters, curling her hand up into a fist as it stung.

Max was quickly at her side and tries to take a look at it but she pulls away. She backs up until she accidentally runs into the back of the counter, wincing slightly as it digs into her hip.

Clutching her hand, she uses the back of the cabinets as a guide and slides down on to the tiled floor beneath her.

"Alex..." Max says softly as he steps towards her.

The brunette buried her head in her arms for a moment then slowly looked up.

"I... I can't even **grab a glass out of a cabinet!** How am I supposed to look after my sister!?" She cried out helplessly, as the wall of strength that she had been putting up for the past few days came tumbling down. "It's already been **three days**. It should have come back by now!" Her breathing is heavy and she could feel tears of frustration building up in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm scared." She confessed quietly as a few tears slipped down her cheek.

Max let out a heavy sigh. The sight of her like this broke his heart and suddenly made him feel terribly helpless. He hated feeling helpless. All his money, his connections, his smarts... He's not sure that any of it would be able to help her. But if her sight didn't return, he'd try to help her anyway he could. Even if that meant he had to invent something himself.

He knelt down in front of her and placed his hand gently on the side of her cheek.

The gesture caught Alex of guard at first, but she soon found herself leaning into his touch. Even though Maxwell Lord was probably the last person she ever wanted to display weakness around, she just couldn't do it anymore. Couldn't keep up the charade any longer. It was too exhausting. She hadn't wanted to burden anyone with this more than she already had, because they already had enough on their plates on a daily basis as it was. But trying to keep it to herself had started to take it's toll on her.

"Sh... Hey." he coaxed gently. "It's okay."

He carefully pulled her to him and when she didn't fight it, he wrapped an arm around her.

"What am I gonna do?" She asked, as she clutched the end of his shirt between her fingers to stop her hands from shaking. She was a **solider**. Without her sight, what **could** she do?

"Even if the DEO decides to bench you, you still have that brain of yours that you can put to good use. This city still needs you, Alex."

He then adds, "Besides, who's going to threaten me to keep me in line if you're not around?"

The corners of her lips turned up slightly and a small laugh escaped her mouth.

Max grinned. "That's better." He murmured quietly.

She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder, staying like that for a good while until her nerves started to relax. Letting out everything she had been bottling up was both a relief and utterly exhausting all at the same time.

Eventually, she let her eyelids flutter back open, and she was surprised to see that the darkness had suddenly lifted. She let a small gasp as color flooded her vision once again.

"Alex?" Max tilted her chin up slightly so that he could look at her eyes and was pleased to see that they were responsive.

It started off blurry at first, but then slowly came into focus as she found herself staring at a pair of blue eyes a couple of inches from her face.

She never thought she'd be this happy to see Maxwell Lord's face. Part of her is afraid to blink, afraid that if she did that it would all turn to black again. But it doesn't, and she sighs heavily in relief about that.

"We'll aren't you a sight for sore eyes." He gently teased with a small grin.

Alex made a face at his attempt at levity. "Really?"

Max shrugged slightly and tilted his head. "To soon?"

"Yeah, just a bit." She said with a chuckle as she shook her head.

He then slowly stood up and carefully helped her to her feet.

"Your shirt..." Alex pointed out, noticing the stains on it from her injury. She had forgotten all about it until now.

Max gave a casual shrug. "Never really cared much for this shirt anyway. Now come on, let's get that hand cleaned up. I know there's people you want to see."


End file.
